


A Grounder Ghost Story

by Captain_Grimlock



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Ghosts, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 01:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10525722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Grimlock/pseuds/Captain_Grimlock
Summary: Lexa tells Clarke a ghost story.





	

"What is this?"

Clarke turned from the fire in Lexa's personal quarters, to see her lover holding up a book. "Chancellor Kane gave me that from the wreckage of the Ark." She replied, noting which book it was.

'Haunted North America'.

Lexa nodded, a smile tracing it's way across her beautiful face. "I did not believe that Skaikru believed in wraiths." She noted. "Your level of technology would indicate that you had foregone myth and superstition when you rose into the heavens."

Clarke smiled. "Believe me, there were a few ghost stories around the Ark." She noted, remembering a time - before she had been put into detention - with Bellamy, Jasper, Monty... The ghost stories had made her skin crawl, which she suspected was the intent of the tales. "Stories of spectral zero-g engineers and radioactive zombies from the reactor were always popular on particularly lonely nights."

Lexa was thumbing through the book, frowning. "These stories are nonsense." She said. "Tales told to young children to scare them out of leaving the campfire, or to keep them in bed until sunrise." She put the book down and came to sit beside Clarke, putting her arm around her. Clarke inhaled Lexa's scent and buried her head into her shoulder.

This is heavenly, she thought.

"You have not appreciated a story about wraiths until you have had first hand experience or an encounter." Lexa continued, kissing Clarke gently on the top of her head. "There are many Trikru tales regarding visitations from the other side, some of which originate from within this very building."

Clarke was interested now. "Really?" She asked.

Lexa nodded. "Indeed." She replied, watching the flames flicker in the fireplace for a few long moments.

"Have you seen a ghost?" Clarke ventured.

Her lover nodded slightly. "In this building, and in the ruins and forest that surround Polis." She answered. Clarke felt her chest heave, her heart pound as Lexa began to speak again. "There are things in the woods far more frightening than even Mount Weather's Reapers or Azgeda beserkers." She reached for her wine and took a sip. "You must remember that the old world came to a violent end and there were many displaced souls..."

"Tell me one." Clarke urged.

Lexa smiled mischeviously. "These stories are not for the weak or faint of heart." She teased. "Are you sure that you are brave enough to listen to this tale without succumbing to unconsciousness?"

"Come on, Lexa. Stop teasing me." Clarke complained.

Lexa laughed beautifully and kissed her on the top of her head again. "If you insist... But do not blame me if you are unable to sleep after I have told my tale..."

She began...

* * *

"Years ago, there was a Fleimkepa named Malthus. 

"Malthus served faithfully for more than a decade, as advisor to a Heda named Rowena. Rowena was known for her shock of white hair, which would not have looked out of place on an Azgeda warrior. She was as wise and powerful as she was beautiful. She ruled Trikru for many years...

"Malthus stood with Rowena on her Ascension Day in the temple, guiding her through the rituals. From that day forward, Malthus and Rowena were never apart. They were inseperable, both within negotiations with the other Clans.

"And without."

\- - -

"So, they were lovers?" Clarke probed.

Lexa looked down at her and pouted slightly. "Do you wish to guess the conclusion of my tale before I have finished telling it, Clarke?"

Clarke smirked. "Forgive me, Heda." She replied, "Pray continue."

Lexa spoke again...

\- - -

"They were, as you anticipated, lovers.

"Many nights they spent together, making passionate love, in these very quarters, disobeying the laws of the Grounders set down years before by the first Heda... But there was a complication that neither of them paused to consider. Rowena had a husband. 

"Aldwyn.

"Aldwyn was a mighty warrior of Trikru, commanding many men who owed him fealty and their lives. News reached him at the front with Azgedakru that Malthus was defiling his marital bed. Aldwyn went into a blood lust and made plans to return to Polis to deal with the treacherous Fleimkepa...

"He returned under cover of night and used one of the Novitiates to lure Malthus to the catacombs, with a tale that one of their number had been murdered and dumped in a particularly dark corner. Malthus, angered by the 'death' of one of his wards, went without weapon or his bodyguard to investigate..."

\- - -

"Creepy." Clarke commented.

"Clarke..." Lexa warned...

"Continue." Clarke urged, closing her eyes and feeling the heat of the fire on her skin...

\- - -

"Aldwyn was waiting for Malthus.

"He beat him to a bloodied pulp, then bound him with stout rope to a pillar. Malthus' fate was sealed as soon as Aldwyn made the first cut. Of course, Aldwyn made Malthus suffer with every slice of the blunt blade, spilling jus with every shred...

"It took a day for Malthus to die, in horrible agony, crying for the mercy of his Heda. But mercy was not to be had. Rowena knew not of his plight, nor was she aware that Aldwyn had gained knowledge of her infidelity.

"Finally, Aldwyn silenced Malthus' cries for help which - it is said - echoed from the very walls of Polis. He mercilessly slit his throat from ear to ear, and watched in satisfaction as the Fleimkepa died slowly.

"As he did so, Aldwyn poured the oil from his lamp over the body of Malthus and set him alight, denying the Fleimkepa any of the Grounder funeral rites to which he was entitled..."

\- - -

"So, where does the ghost story come into this?" Clarke probed.

Lexa frowned at her again. She was silent.

\- - -

"It was shortly after I became Heda...

"I had explored the tower as a child but, under the Flame Keeper's watchful eye, I had not ventured too far. I was unaware of the catacombs which ran beneath the building and the many dark and damp corners therein.

"Days after my ascension, I dismissed my bodyguard and went into the catacombs with just my knife and a torch for protection. As I anticipated, they were unwelcoming, damp...

"Unusually cold for the season...

"I did not know the story of Malthus as I explored, torch held in front of me, the tunnel where he had met his fate... There came a form before me, oozing blood from more than a hundred deep cuts to his face, his body... I asked if he needed help...

"He said 'I am beyond help.'

"I tightened my grip on my knife, believing the man to be crazed from the torture which he had apparently endured. As his face came into the light of my torch, I noticed something...

"That he had no eyes.

"'I am beyond help', he said again, as he walked past me, blindly. 

"'I am beyond help', he repeated as he walked away towards the tunnel exit, fading away slowly with every step... Until he was gone."

* * *

"You made that up." Clarke declared.

"Did I?" Lexa countered. "They say that Malthus' burned body was never found; that he still walks the tunnels beneath this building..." She held Clarke close. "That he still repeats those very words which he spoke to me.

"'I am beyond help'."

Clarke sat up, "I'm not sure what to make of it."

Lexa smiled. "It was a far superior story to any Skaikru ghost story that will appear in your book." She pointed out. "There are countless other tales of undead bodyguards and the spirits of those who came before the first Heda, walking the corridors of this tower. Be careful that you do not encounter one..."

Clarke rose from her lover's grip and kissed her tenderly on the lips. "I'm sure that I can find my way back to my quarters without running afoul of any spirits of the underworld."

Lexa nodded. "Be sure that you do. Reshop, Clarke. Until the dawn.

"Until the dawn." Clarke repeated, walking towards the door and leaving Lexa for the evening...

* * *

Clarke walked towards her quarters, noticing that there was a large Grounder warrior stationed outside the door. He nodded to her as she approached.

"Did Heda Lexa station you here for my protection?" She asked, not immediately recognising him as a member of Lexa's own bodyguard. 

The guard did not speak. He simply nodded again. His face was bruised and bloodied, as was common amongst Grounder soldiers who had run afoul of the commander or one of her lieutenants.

Perhaps his tongue has been cut out as punishment for, well, something, Clarke considered. It was not beyond the bounds of imagination that Grounders would silence their guards in order to make them more obedient. 

She pushed open the door and moved to enter. Turning slightly, she said, "Good ni-"

He was gone without trace.

Feeling a shudder run up her spine, and wondering if Lexa had been right, Clarke closed and locked the door to her chambers...

THE END


End file.
